After being on the receiving end of a tip of a lifetime last week, servers at an Edmonton pub are paying it forward and donating the money to a local charity.
Celeste Bouchard was working at Hudsons on Whyte, near the city’s Strathcona neighbourhood, at about 1 a.m. Thursday when a patron left her a $1,000 tip. The customer said he was impressed with the service.
"He did it himself. He typed in a $1,000 (on the debit machine), handed it back to me and I was like 'What?'" Bouchard told CTV Edmonton
"I looked and I was like 'This is insanity," she added.
Bouchard and her co-workers initially decided to divide the tip among the staff, but after some thought, she said she realized that the plan didn't feel right.
"We were just like: 'Well, we're not going to split that between us because that's so selfish," said Bouchard. "I was like: 'It is just taking away the magic of what this man did for us … I think we should donate all of it.'"
So Bouchard placed $1,000 in an envelope and notified the rest of staff that she would be giving it to charity.
On Friday, Bouchard, who is a cash-crunched nursing student, and her co-workers took the money to Stollery Children's Hospital.
Tannis Peterkin, community initiatives co-ordinator for the Stollery Children's Hospital, said he was grateful for the chain of good deeds.
"That's amazing. It's something I can't say I've ever done because I've never received something like that," said Peterkin.
"This man … was choosing to be so generous and I think it is important to pay it forward. I think it is important to make the world better and be nice."
With a report from CTV Edmonton's Josh Skurnik
